By Alberto S. Florentino, Jr.

Father - Mang Tomas

Mother - Aling Rosa

Eldest Son – Tony

Eldest Daughter - Rita

Youngest Daughter – Nenita

Youngest Sibling - Juanito

Friend of Rita - Elena

Lifestyle of poor Filipino family and realization how women are treated.

The play “The Dancers” is about a family suffering from poverty because of the father (Mang Tomas) who is

supposed to work for his family but he is so lazy and he always complain of his weak body and pretends that he cannot work anymore. He forced his children to work for the family and earn a living. As for the eldest son (Tony),

he is a jeepney driver where Mang Tomas gets the money from, but it is just used for liquor and for going in a bar. As for the eldest daughter (Rita), she was forced

by Mang Tomas to work as a dancer in a bar for the family and earn some money for him. But surprisingly, at the latter part of the play, Mang Tomas forced her

youngest daughter Nenita, a sixteen year old teenager to work for him as a dancer in the bar together with her

sister Rita. Their mother (Aling Rosa) was not able to stop his husband (Mang Tomas) with his decision but to

cry.

The message of the play is very much timely in the current situation of our

country. And the message it conveys is really true in our present situation.

It’s a story of a poor family where women are engraved to dance in bars such as Salon to earn money for a living. Rita is

the eldest daughter and has been influenced by his father to dance at

Salon at an early age of 16 accompanied by Juanito her youngest

brother. Though with objection from her mother, it seems that she can’t do

anything for she needs to work for the sake of her family.

Since their father cannot and doesn’t want to work anymore for he considers himself useless, he let his children work

for earnings and expenses. Then a situation overrun when Juanito doesn’t want anymore to go with Rita. Elena

teased and insulted Juanito which makes the matter worst. They fight and when Elena was scared by Juanito, she

ran outside crying.

Since nobody accompanies Rita to go at the Salon, Mang Tomas decided to let

Nenita go with her sister and work. Tony objects and stops his father but he was

hit in face and sent Tony bleeding. When their mother came in from Quiapo church and notices a conversation going

on and sees Nenita dressed-up. She doesn’t allow her younger daughter to go to such place and expose to a place where women dance for pleasure and

money. But at the end, she has no choice for Juanito is missing and no one will accompany Rita to Salon. At the end the mother becomes restless and try to look for Juanito with a burden in heart.

As for the message of the play, we can say that the theme the play wants to

convey is that anything can happen or anything might lead to such unplanned

decisions in life because of poverty. As a person, we should not let poverty hinder us from achieving a good life. And also

as a human, we should take into consideration the people that might be

affected of such decisions we made.

We should not dictate other people whether they are an immediate family member because they still have their

own feelings and decision in life that we should understand. This was evident when the father dictated and made a

decision without considering the feelings of his daughter Nenita. We should have enough perseverance if we really want

to make a difference and not be dictated by someone else’s decision. We should stand to what we think is right for us.